Orchard Park, NY (WBEN) Orchard Park may be home to the Bills, but there's no room at the inn, or for that matter, no inn for out of town fans to pay a visit.
One southtowns business leader tells WBEN that hurts the town's economic impact.
With the Pittsburgh Steelers coming to town, Orchard Park Chamber of Commerce President Don Lorentz says he expects a larger than normal game day economic impact. "As far as what we'll see here in Orchard Park, I would hope that we get some of the spill off of the people that are coming in," says Lorentz. He says takeout and fast food places could see a 30 percent jump this weekend. But finer dining establishments won't see the jump because people won't stay within the town.
The problem, says Lorentz, is the town has no hotel. "That takes people a little bit out of our town and village. But I'm hoping that before and after the games that as they're coming through here that they will still come through to some of the businesses and support some of our businesses," laments Lorentz.
A standalone hotel is needed in Orchard Park, says Lorentz, to help keep fans in the town on game day and beyond. "I guess the other thing that I'm looking at is not necessarily just for the eight to 10 games here, but that would bring people here as a destination."
Lorentz says an opportunity has been missed for 50 years and hopes with a new Bills stadium, development of a nearby hotel will happen. "That's been the goal that the Chamber has been pushing right now for when we have the new stadium for the next 30 years that we will become a destination site here in Orchard Park itself," says Lorentz. "I've been talking with local developers that they would love to be part of something like that and see something happen in our area. I know the businesses that I represent, would definitely love to see something where we have people that are going to be here not just for game day, but that they could actually be here for an extended period of time," adds Lorentz.
Lorentz says an Austin, Texas firm says Orchard Park needs to have a 200 room hotel to create an advantage for the suburb.





